FIA approve reduced budget cap and other regulation changes

Published on 29 May 2020 by Kees-Jan Koster

The FIA announced that the regulation changes for 2021 and 2022, proposed by the World Motor Sport Council, have been approved.

The main change for next year is the introduction of a budget cap. Initially this was set to 175 million dollars, but in the new plans the budget cap is reduced to 145 million dollars, which is 132 million euros. In the coming years this will be reduced even more to 140 million dollars in 2022 and 135 million dollars in 2023. The salaries of the drivers, senior staff and power-unit related cost are not included in the budget cap.

The corona crisis caused the introduction of the new generation of Formula 1 cars to be postponed to 2022, with the current cars also driving in the 2021 season. The development of the current cars will be restricted almost entirely. This winter nothing can be changed on the chassis, the gearbox and the ‘impact structures’. Also, the development of the power unit will be restricted. From 2021 only one engine update is allowed, while power unit development will be frozen entirely from 2023.

The areas of the cars that can be developed will also be restricted by the introduction of a ‘token’ system. To develop certain parts of the car, teams will have to use tokens. The number of tokens each team gets from the FIA is restricted, so teams have to be selective which areas to further develop.

Finally, an ‘aero handicap’ is introduced. This measure, which will be introduced from 2021, is to restrict the time teams can spend on wind tunnel testing. How much time each team gets in the wind tunnel will be determined by the position in the constructor’s championship. The top teams will get less time in the wind tunnel than the teams in the midfield. The FIA hopes this will bring the field closer together.